Fair And Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA)

What is ‘Fair And Accurate Credit Transactions Act – FACTA’

A U.S. resolution passed in 2003 that is aimed at enhancing protection measures for identity theft by creating standards for the handling of credit card numbers. This act allows individuals free access to their own credit reports and has created a nationwide alerts system.

This act is an amendment to the existing Fair Credit Reporting Act.

Explaining ‘Fair And Accurate Credit Transactions Act – FACTA’

With the passing of FACTA, people are now allowed to request their credit reports free, once per year, from all three of the major credit reporting agencies (Equifax, Experion and Transunion).

Not only were requirements placed on mortgage lenders to release consumer information regarding credit scores and factors influencing the price of a mortgage loan, but standards also were put into place that require lenders and regulators to be more proactive in spotting identity theft before it occurs by looking for suspicious patterns.

Further Reading

  • Fair value accounting, financial economics and the transformation of reliability – www.tandfonline.com [PDF]
  • The economic implications of corporate financial reporting – www.sciencedirect.com [PDF]
  • Banking, finance, and community economic empowerment: Structural economic theory, procedural civil rights, and substantive racial justice – www.jstor.org [PDF]
  • After the FACTA: state power to prevent identity theft – heinonline.org [PDF]
  • The transformation of business finance into financial economics: The roles of academic expansion and changes in US capital markets – www.sciencedirect.com [PDF]
  • Anatomy of a financial crisis – link.springer.com [PDF]